


One Step at a Time

by autisticblueteam



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Autistic Character, Autistic Character(s), Christmas, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Season/Series 13 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 08:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5533067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autisticblueteam/pseuds/autisticblueteam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s been a few weeks since the events on the Staff of Charon, and apparently, it’s Christmas! But, so soon after what happened, is it really the time for celebrations? Well, Caboose sure thinks so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Step at a Time

**Author's Note:**

> This fic gave me hell, seriously. I’ve never messed up my writing process so much, my brain was all scrambled yesterday apparently. But it’s done, and it’s done in time for Christmas day! So here we go!

Wash had only been asleep a couple of hours when he was awoken by the bed shaking and a familiar voice was whisper-shouting a constant mantra of ‘oh boy oh boy!’ beside him. He groaned quietly; as used to getting very little sleep as he was, the disturbance was nonetheless unwelcome. Opening one eye he glanced around as best he could in the dim light of the early morning, catching sight of a familiar large figure hovering just above him.

Caboose was knelt on the bed, making it bounce and creak with every movement he made as he tried to find a way off without waking anybody else up. Wash felt his lips twitch into a smile as Caboose pulled a variety of amusing facial expressions whilst trying to figure this conundrum out. Caboose was closest to the wall, and being a man of his size even Wash couldn’t think of a way Caboose could feasibly pull it off. Especially as he’d already woken Wash up, anyway.

So, to save him from ending up stranded there until they woke up, Wash tucked Tucker close to his side and reached up to brush Caboose’s hair from his face. Caboose leaned into the touch immediately, and Wash found himself greeted by a familiar grin that he felt like he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Wash!”

Wash chuckled slightly, combing his fingers back through Caboose’s hair and letting the other man lean into his hand, “Hey Caboose,” He yawned, stroking his cheek, “Whatcha doing up so early buddy?”

As much as he wanted to, he didn’t ask why he was smiling. He didn’t dare risk breaking Caboose out of whatever had finally brought back a genuine smile.

Caboose’s grin grew, and he began to bounce and flap his hands. Wash felt his smile grow at the sight, “Because because because! It’s Christmas!”

Wash’s brow furrowed, but before he could make a comment he was interrupted by the feeling of Tucker stirring against him. Hair tickled his skin as Tucker buried his head against Wash’s side, scrunching up his face and making disgruntled noises before he opened an eye to look at them.

“The fuck?” Was the eloquent phrase to come from his mouth, followed by a big yawn and a stretch that nearly gave Wash a black eye. Washington rolled his eyes, pushing Tucker’s arm away from his face, “No, seriously. The fuck, guys? It’s like, obscenely early o’clock. Why are you awake? Why did you wake me up?”

“Tucker is a very grumpy person in the mornings,” Caboose said with a solemn seeming nod, which was promptly followed by an insuppressible grin that earned him a playful swat of a pillow.

“Oh shut up.”

“But I do not want to shut up.”

Wash found himself rolling his eyes and snatching the pillow away from Tucker, “Okay you two, it’s definitely too early for your usual antics,” He said whilst placing the pillow back under his head, and whilst internally feeling warmth blossom in his chest. This felt normal. This felt more normal than things had in weeks.

Since, well…

He had to stop himself chewing at his cheek.

“It is not too early because it is Christmas! It is never too early on Christmas,” Caboose said with a nod, bouncing on the spot and shaking the bed again. Tucker and Wash, well used to this by now and already awake, weren’t phased by the jostling.

Tucker, however, _was_ phased by the mention of Christmas. He raised an eyebrow, repeating the word with an added layer of confusion, “Christmas?”

Caboose nodded excitedly.

“Apparently it’s Christmas,” Wash said with a shrug and a pointed look, stretching to try and reach his data-pad. However with Tucker still laying on his arm it wasn’t exactly easy, “Before you start arguing, Tucker, get me my data-pad. It’s on the floor.”

Tucker groaned, rolling over and twisting to grab the pad from the floor. He kicked Wash in the side as he did so, and jammed his bare ass into Wash’s arm. Wash could only groan. The bed was not designed for three people, at _all_ , and Tucker still refused to stop sleeping naked.

The data-pad hit him in the chest moments later, and Wash mussed up Tucker’s hair for his troubles. He chuckled at the whine he got in return, and flicked through the pad to find the information he was looking for.

And, surely enough, there on his display of relevant dates and times: ‘Earth Date: 25th December’.

“Well, Caboose is right,” He said, a smile spreading across his features as he felt Caboose start to bounce again, “Back on Earth, at the very least, today is Christmas day.”

“Told you so!” Caboose said, his arms flapping at waist level as he stuck his tongue out at Tucker. Tucker rolled his eyes with a groan, but stuck his tongue out in return.

“Great, awesome,” The smaller man said, putting on what Wash could tell was a partially forced smile. At that he frowned, “Hey, why don’t you go tell the reds, Caboose?”

“Oh! Yes! Be right back!” Caboose said, nodding and jumping up to his feet. The bed creaked under him as he bounced on the spot for a moment before jumping down and running off, nearly skidding across the floor in his sock clad feet. Washington watched him go, but then looked to Tucker with his brow furrowed.

“Tucker?” He said, feeling his frown deepen as Tucker sighed and sat up, “Lavernius, what’s wrong?”

Tucker shrugged, stretching with another yawn and gathering his dreads back into a ponytail, “I dunno, dude. Christmas? I… I don’t know if I can do that, right now. Y’know?”

Wash let out a soft sigh, his face softening as he sat up and wrapped his arms around Tucker. Tucker leant back into the hold instantly, and Wash pressed a kiss to his bare shoulder.

“I know. I know,” He felt himself chewing at his cheek, and he realised how much Tucker had picked up on recently when he was passed his cat chew. He smiled at the gesture, but just held it so he could speak, “But… I think Caboose needs this, right now. If we can get everyone else on board. This is the happiest I’ve seen him since we had to tell him, well… you know.”

Tucker nodded, because he did know. Tucker had been right in the middle of it all, after all; he’d been the one running the suit that Epsilon had broken himself into pieces for. He’d been the one that had fallen into a near coma for over a week, the whole of which Wash and Caboose spent performing alternating bedside vigils. He was the one who, along with Caboose, has lost someone he considered a best friend. He knew full well, and that was why it hurt.

But he also knew that Caboose hadn’t smile a genuine smile since they found out Epsilon was gone, not before today. He also knew that, whilst he and Wash and some of the others were off making plans for the distribution of the AI that Church had left behind, Caboose had been trying to hide his meltdowns by sneaking off to different areas of the canyon or shipwreck. Carolina had caught him more than once when she went to find some quiet, and she always reported back when she did. Caboose was trying to pretend he was okay, but the thing about Caboose was that the more he tried to hide something, the more obvious it became.

So yes, Tucker knew. Washington held him back against his chest, feeling the warmth of the contact flowing through him and hoping Tucker could appreciate it too.

“It might do us all some good. If it gets too much for you then you can come back here, or go train. Does that sound okay?” Wash asked, pressing another kiss to his shoulder. Tucker sighed, but leant his head against his with a nod, “Alright, just try think of it like any other Christmas. I mean, Caboose has had us pull Christmas off before.”

At that Tucker managed a chuckle, “Yeah. Back when we were stuck here the first time. He did the same back in Blood Gulch. Must be a real sucker for it.”

“Must be,” He kissed Tucker’s cheek and got up, tucking the chew into the corner of his mouth and biting on it, “Come on, get up and get some damn clothes on.”

He could hear the grin in Tucker’s voice, and found himself smiling too, “Oh like you don’t enjoy the view.”

Wash chuckled, grabbing Tucker a shirt and tossing it at him and then laughing as it hit him directly in the face. He couldn’t see his expression but he could tell Tucker was scowling beneath it, a thought that was confirmed when the other man tugged the shirt from his face.

“That was unintentional, I swear,” Wash said, holding his hands up defensively and taking a step back. Tucker glared, but a twitch in the corner of his lips betrayed him and his face was split by a grin. Wash felt warmth pooling in his chest again, “I love you, Lavernius. And Michael too. I hope you both know that.”

Tucker rolled his eyes, but his smile remained as he tugged on underwear and a pair of sweats, “Yeah, Wash. We know. Love you too.”

Wash was in front of him before realising he’d moved, tracing his thumb along the light stubble on Tucker’s jaw that he was so proud of and giving him a serious look, “I mean it, Lavernius.”

And he hoped his meaning came across, because he was no wordsmith. But he also knew that despite his grasp on his inflection that putting so much meaning into four words was likely beyond his abilities. So he just looked Tucker in the eye, something that with almost anyone else would send an uncomfortable shiver down his spine, and brushed his thumb over the comforting sensation of the stubble.

Tucker looked back for a long moment before resting their foreheads together with a nod, “Yeah. I know, David.”

Wash relaxed, breathing out a sigh and leaning into the touch of their heads, “Good. Good. Because with everything that’s happened lately, I need you to know that.”

They didn’t say anything else, and for what felt like hours they stood there like that, in silence with their eyes closed. And then they heard excited repetition of ‘oh boy oh boy!’ and Wash opened one eye just in time for Caboose to come skidding into the room with his hands flapping up a storm.

“Oh boy oh boy!”

Wash opened his mouth to speak, but Tucker got there first, “What is it Mikey? The Reds down for it?”

“Oh boy oh boy!” Caboose said again, flapping excitedly and all but bouncing on his feet, “Donut said he would do decorations! And and and the married ones’ Tucker and Wash exchanged amused side glances, ‘said they would find a tree we can do Christmas with! And and I bumped onto Carolina and and she said that she is askew like Church but she will help and will get nice lady Kimball to tell everyone else!”

“…Askew? Caboose do you mean Jew? Did Carolina say she was Jewish like Church?” Tucker said, a light chuckle under his voice and an eyebrow raised.

Caboose thought about it for a moment, then nodded, “Yes. That makes much more sense.”

Wash shook his head, an arm around Tucker as he turned to Caboose, “I’m glad everyone’s on board, Mikey. Do you want to get into some proper clothes before we go and help everyone get set up?”

Caboose thought again, but this time he shook his head, “No! PJs are the best Christmas clothes!”

Wash raised an eyebrow, glancing over Caboose’s t-shirt and colourful boxers ensemble, but didn’t say anything more on the matter. Instead he held an arm out to him, and thought about the fact that that had to be the first time Caboose had said Church’s name without crying since he’d been told.

One step at a time.

The large man had his boyfriends wrapped up in a crushing hug within moments of the arm going out, squeezing the life out of them but making them laugh and return the hug as best they could. He was happy, for now at least. And with Christmas to prepare and celebrate within less than twenty four hours, he’d hopefully stay that way for a while longer. And hopefully that would keep their spirits up, at least for a little while.

Yeah, one step at a time.


End file.
